musesfool: a loaf of bread (staff of life)
[personal profile] musesfool
Despite getting a late start all weekend and being distracted by a new matching game on my phone (I can lose hours to these stupid games), I got some good cooking done!

Yesterday, I made garlic & mozzarella milk bread (pics), which turned out quite well even though I forgot the salt due to its weird placement in the recipe (in theory I understand why it is where it is, but in practice it makes no sense to do it that way), but I used salted butter, so I don't think I missed it, and the bread rose just fine.

This afternoon, I finally made this strawberry cheesecake since my cream cheese was well past its use-by date and my heavy cream was getting there! It's still chilling, but when I licked the spatula after pouring the filling into the pie plate, all I really tasted was the five-spice powder. Which I like! But it's not what I would expect given the amount of freeze-dried strawberry powder in it. I guess we'll see how it goes when I cut into it tomorrow. (I also have this issue with nutmeg - even when I try to go easy on it in something, it still is frequently the only thing I taste after using it. I don't know why!)

And then I finally got up and made meatballs with oregano and red wine vinegar to have for lunch during the week. This was a method my grandmother used to use, and it is a great way to eat meatballs (or veggies - she also used to make it with zucchini, and I imagine you could do other types of squash or eggplant this way) - you make and cook the meatballs and set them aside. Then you saute onions in some olive oil (or in the beef fat left if you've fried your meatballs - I do mine in the oven, so I just use oil) and lower the heat and let them caramelize a bit, then you put the meatballs back in, sprinkle about 1/8 cup of dried oregano over them, and then pour in 1/3 - 3/4 cup of red wine vinegar. Be careful as billows of deliciously pungent smoke will rise from your frying pan at that point! Then lower the heat and let it all simmer for 10 or 15 minutes. Good both hot and at room temperature! (I haven't made it with zucchini myself, but for that, you slice and fry or bake your zucchini, and then continue on with the onions/oregano/vinegar as described.)

I have taken the garbage out and started the dishwasher, so now I am prepared for the awfulness of Sunday night. Sigh.

*

Silksong! First impressions

Sep. 5th, 2025 11:53 pm
schneefink: Quirrel from Hollow Knight sitting on a bench (HK Quirrel on bench)
[personal profile] schneefink
Silksong is finally out! "Fortunately" I didn't make it home by 4pm on Thursday meaning I only had to wait a little over an hour of frequent refreshing until I could finally buy the game xD

It's so much fun! Very reminiscent of Hollow Knight in a good way: atmosphere, gameplay, level design... And very hard. But (most of) the fights are fun to figure out, and the successes feel great. Tbh the main reason why I wish it didn't take me so long is because I'm already really looking forward to watching others play, but I also don't want any spoilers.

Minor gameplay spoilers )

My actual playthrough, the first almost ten hours, with plenty of spoilers:
(Benchmark, I have three achievements for defeating bosses so far and explored a bit further into the ~next region; and I strongly suspect the first three bosses will probably be the same for most people.)
My actual playthrough, with spoilers )

Yesterday I played until 2am, today hopefully not quite as long. Tomorrow I'm at a friend's birthday party, and I might think the timing more unfortunate if I didn't suspect my wrists will be glad for the break... But I have no other plans for Sunday except play, looking forward to it. (Well, that and watch a few of the MCSR Playoffs finale matches when I need a break, we'll see.)

Yesterday I beat the Capra demon

Sep. 5th, 2025 03:01 pm
rydra_wong: Lee Miller photo showing two women wearing metal fire masks in England during WWII. (Default)
[personal profile] rydra_wong
Please enjoy this eloquent depiction of The Capra Demon Experience:



(Content note for animal harm in the form of killing horrifying skinless zombie dogs. Also one man's slow descent into existential despair.)

This is a notorious point where a not insignificant number of people ragequit and stop playing the game altogether.

Also as previously mentioned I struggle badly with tracking multiple inputs, I have the reaction speed of a slime mould, and my default combat state is "panicked and flustered."

It took me about 7 hours (spread across multiple days -- admittedly, most of this time was doing the boss run again and again and again and then dying within seconds of the fight starting) and I am very proud of myself.

(And right now I am dealing with a medical stressor -- hopefully nothing, but had to go get some tests, waiting on results -- so I will take my distractions and wins where I can get them.)

I'm going there no more to roam

Sep. 4th, 2025 07:11 pm
musesfool: Joan looking annoying while Sherlock gazes soulfully at her (the tender gravity of kindness)
[personal profile] musesfool
There's so much TV coming back soon:

- the new season of Only Murders in the Building starts on 9/8
- the new season of Slow Horses starts 9/24
- the new season of Abbott Elementary starts 10/1

And it's not tv, but the new season of Batman: Wayne Family Adventures also starts 10/1 - there was a new mini episode last night, featuring Alfred being the best. <3

Meanwhile, I still have not watched:

- season 2 of Andor
- season 2 of Wednesday
- season 2 of Poker Face (though I did watch the first episode - the one with Cynthia Erivo, who was fantastic)

And of course, China Beach is finally available on a streaming service I do not have, and without some of the iconic music they used, but it would definitely be worth checking out if I wanted to pay for another streamer, which I don't.

Instead, I seem to have fallen into another Elementary rewatch. Despite some of the ghastly murders, it is a very comforting watch and I love Joan and Sherlock's relationship so much. And I might be feeling a Killjoys rewatch coming up soon too. I guess we'll see.

There are other shows I keep meaning to check out but have not as of yet - there is just too much to watch and too little time.

*

can't run out the clock

Sep. 2nd, 2025 09:25 pm
musesfool: orange slices (orange you glad)
[personal profile] musesfool
I made this sheet pan pancake for dinner last night (pic) and it was good, but I don't know that I'd call it a pancake - it is much thicker and not particularly fluffy. The texture is more "cake" than "pancake". But it was good with butter and syrup and will also provide several days of breakfast so I can't complain. It's super easy to throw together, too - no buttermilk needed. The handful of strawbs I had left had gone moldy in the fridge, but I had about 3/4 cup of frozen berries left in the freezer that I folded in and also about 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips that I sprinkled on top, so that worked out.

*

Past Life

Sep. 3rd, 2025 02:10 am
schneefink: stickers for all five seasons of the Life series (Life Series stickers)
[personal profile] schneefink
Past Life ended, and it was great. The teams were fantastic, the gimmick was fun but more in the background than in the previous too which was a nice change of pace, the improv was on point, the stories came together so well again.

I watched several videos each week, sometimes more sometimes less, and there's plenty I still want to watch eventually and some I want to watch again. I wanted to go over my notes again too to clean them up and add some more, but if I don't post them now I don't know when it will happen, so here is the first draft. (Which is already at 7k.)
I'm typing this while admiring my shiny new Life series desk mat btw, very pretty.


#1 Early early on )

#2 Tango with a mustache )

#3 The Secret Society )

#4 Joel with a mustache )

#5 The Proposal )

#6 Fire! )

#7 - Records are made to be broken )

#8 - The Finale )

Hemlock & Silver, by T. Kingfisher

Sep. 2nd, 2025 09:45 am
rachelmanija: (Books: old)
[personal profile] rachelmanija


After disliking both The Hollow Places and The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher, and for similar reasons (idiot heroine who refused to believe in magic when it was happening right in front of her; annoying tone), I gave up on her works. But since lots of my customers like her, I ordered this book. And when it arrived, it was so beautiful that I had to pick it up and examine it. And then I figured I'd read a couple pages, just to get an idea of what it was about. Those couple pages quickly turned into the first chapter. Then the second. The next thing I knew, I was actually enjoying the book, and finished it with great pleasure.

Anja is a scientist specializing in poisons and antidotes, who regularly takes small doses of poison to understand their effects and test out antidotes. She saves the lives of poisoned people, sometimes. This gets her enough fame that one day the king shows up, asking her to save his daughter, Snow, who he believes is being poisoned...

This is a very loose retelling of "Snow White," making clever use of elements like the apple, the mirror, and the poison.

Like the other books of hers I read, this one is set in an unambiguously magical world and/or has a portal to an unambiguously magical world, and has a heroine who doesn't believe in magic. I guess this is an obligatory Kingfisher thing? At least in this one, Anja doesn't deny that things are happening when they're clearly happening, she just thinks that maybe there is some underlying scientific explanation. This makes at least some sense, as she's a scientist. (Though in my opinion, science is basically a framework and a worldview, and a scientist in a magical world would be doing experiments to figure out how magic works, not denying its existence.) In any case, Anja does not act like an idiot or a flat earther, but pursues the clues she finds and doesn't deny what they suggest. She's kind of monomaniacal, but in a fun way.

Hemlock & Silver meshes multiple genres. It's not a horror novel or even particularly dark for a fantasy, but it has some genuinely scary moments. It's often very funny. And one aspect of the story, while technically fantasy, is so methodically worked out and involves so much science (optics) that it feels like science fiction. There's also a murder mystery, a romance, a surprisingly agreeable rooster, and a talking cat. It all works together quite nicely.

1SE for August 2025

Sep. 2nd, 2025 02:42 pm
nanila: me (Default)
[personal profile] nanila


Despite all the Welsh holiday footage, Astro managed to sneak in here quite a lot. Meeting the talkative long-eared owl was one of the highlights. She had many and varied opinions.

Labor Day Book Poll

Sep. 1st, 2025 01:12 pm
rachelmanija: (Books: old)
[personal profile] rachelmanija
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 119


Which books would you most like me to review?

View Answers

Hemlock & Silver, by T. Kingfisher. The first book of hers I've actually liked!
53 (44.5%)

Lone Women, by Victor LaValle. Fantastic cross-genre western/historical/horror/fantasy.
37 (31.1%)

Into the Raging Sea, by Rachel Slade. The best nonfiction shipwreck book I've read since Shadow Divers.
40 (33.6%)

The Blacktongue Thief/The Daughter's War, by Christopher Buehlman. Excellent dark fantasy.
27 (22.7%)

The Bewitching, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Three timelines, all involving witches.
17 (14.3%)

Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Exactly what it sounds like.
36 (30.3%)

Archangel (etc), by Sharon Shinn. Lost colony romantic SF about genetically engineered angels.
38 (31.9%)

We Live Here Now, by Sarah Pinborough. Really original haunted house novel.
36 (30.3%)

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, by Stephen Graham Jones. Outstanding indigenous take on "Interview with the Vampire."
49 (41.2%)

When the Angels Left the Old Country, by Sacha Lamb. A Jewish demon and angel leave the old country; excellent voice, very Jewish.
65 (54.6%)

Some other book I mentioned reading but failed to review.
4 (3.4%)

musesfool: Stephanie Brown as Batgirl (can't hardly wait)
[personal profile] musesfool
The bbq yesterday was fun! Baby Miss L continues to be a character - she's a little awkward but she manages to get up and down steps now. In fact, she stood on the steps and was like, "Jump! Jump!" and we were like, " um, no, no jumping off the steps!"

Anyway, there were a lot of desserts, but the strawberry cake was enjoyed. It smelled fantastic and tasted good too.

In other news, I did the August recs update earlier:

[personal profile] unfitforsociety has been updated for August 2025 with 12 recs in 2 fandoms:

* 11 Batfamily and 1 Batfamily/Spider-Man crossover

***

city turns away from me

Aug. 31st, 2025 04:58 pm
unfitforsociety: pearls (string of pearls)
[personal profile] unfitforsociety
Batfamily

Alvin Draper of Crime Alley by [archiveofourown.org profile] potofsoup
Jason is having a hard time finding Tim Drake, but he's been running into a kid by the name of Alvin Draper in the Alley.

In the meantime, Tim Drake totally has 5-step plan to bring get Jason and Bruce to reconcile! Nothing will go wrong.
This is hilarious and amazing!

dolly-verse fics by [archiveofourown.org profile] a_alene
gotham city senior dolores patton and the teenaged crime lord she hangs out with sometimes Jason is befriended by a little old lady in Gotham. She teaches him to crochet. <333

Hard Cash, Hard Liquor, and Hard Candies: The Crime Alley Grannies by [archiveofourown.org profile] cookie_rock
They know everything that happens in Crime Alley.

EVERYTHING.
<333

Killing the Past (And Coming Back to Life) by [archiveofourown.org profile] RaaorQtpbpdy & [archiveofourown.org profile] TaraLaurel
Tim is visiting Robin's grave when Jason Todd crawls out of it. Oh boys...

Magnets by [archiveofourown.org profile] gender_bender08
On a Tuesday night, Bruce Wayne attends a circus. Halfway through, the trapeze artists are killed, leaving their eight year old son behind, hands wrapped in dancer’s tape and knees bloody with how he falls on them in his anguish. Bruce Wayne watches him for a moment, two, then turns around and leaves.

Sixteen years later, the thing who was once a man named Dick Grayson nurses a bottle of scotch as he stitches the gaping wound in his side from where Batman got him with a batarang.
AU where Bruce doesn't take in any of his kids, but they all come together somehow anyway.

Penelope by [archiveofourown.org profile] NerdyGay
Tim finds that there are more ways to protect the Bats than just Robin. A little magic never hurt anyone, after all. I enjoyed this!

The Pieces of What's Left by [archiveofourown.org profile] mynameisjessejk
When Blockbuster burns down his whole life and Tarantula takes what isn't hers to claim, Dick ditches his life, his name, and his city for an anonymous, quiet life in the Bowery. Just till he can put himself back together.

Jason is doing his best to fix his corner of the city, keep Black Mask out of his business, and arrange a confrontation with Batman, the Joker, and all the water under the bridge. He has no idea what to do with a Dick Grayson who's apparently in hiding and joined his gang by accident.

But it turns out they need each other far more than they could have imagined, and if either of them are going to fix their broken pieces, it's going to have to be together.
I enjoyed this! #hoods and birds

r/MaleLivingSpace by [archiveofourown.org profile] Jackedrabbit
Stephanie Brown is many things: a vigilante, a gossip, an ally, a ragebaiter, and a friend. But when a blizzard knocks out her apartment's WiFi, she tacks on another label to that list - an uninvited houseguest. And uninvited guests are often most welcome when they leave. Hilarious!

Red Hood's Shelter for Feral Kids by [archiveofourown.org profile] dandelionlily
Jason has a plan for his return to Gotham. Steal the clown's old Red Hood identity? Check. Make sure meddling birds know to keep out of his territory? Check. Recruit some homeless youth to keep an ear to the street in exchange for shelter? Check. Take over the Crime Alley drug trade, convince Black Mask to break the clown out of Arkham, murder his Replacement and force Batman to finally avenge him? ...he's still working on it.

His plans are delayed when the homeless kids he's sheltering are joined by a fearful boy with hand-shaped bruises around his neck. Alvin Draper may not want to say who did it, but Red Hood isn't about to let anyone who beats up children go unpunished.
This is fun!

3 Times Timmy Drake Meets Santa + 1 Time He Meets Bruce by [archiveofourown.org profile] Writer_loves_tropes
Exactly what it says on the tin, though it's an AU where Tim is 6 while everyone else is their normal canon ages. It's adorable!

Whose Vault Unlocked by [archiveofourown.org profile] myvividreams
Jason's war against emotional competency, ft. a concussion, nosy neighbors, superhero RPF, and the local library's writing circle.

...Not that he's winning or anything. Fuck.
Oh Jason...this is a lovely look at how Jason begins reconciling with the family.



Crossover

Spiderman/Batman

Fries With That Secret Identity? by [archiveofourown.org profile] N0t_Sketchy
This is a fun crossover where Peter goes to Gotham on a photography assignment and runs into Robin. Banter and hijinks ensue.

denise: Image: Me, facing away from camera, on top of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome (Default)
[staff profile] denise posting in [site community profile] dw_news

A reminder to everyone that starting tomorrow, we are being forced to block access to any IP address that geolocates to the state of Mississippi for legal reasons while we and Netchoice continue fighting the law in court. People whose IP addresses geolocate to Mississippi will only be able to access a page that explains the issue and lets them know that we'll be back to offer them service as soon as the legal risk to us is less existential.

The block page will include the apology but I'll repeat it here: we don't do geolocation ourselves, so we're limited to the geolocation ability of our network provider. Our anti-spam geolocation blocks have shown us that their geolocation database has a number of mistakes in it. If one of your friends who doesn't live in Mississippi gets the block message, there is nothing we can do on our end to adjust the block, because we don't control it. The only way to fix a mistaken block is to change your IP address to one that doesn't register as being in Mississippi, either by disconnecting your internet connection and reconnecting it (if you don't have a static IP address) or using a VPN.

In related news, the judge in our challenge to Tennessee's social media age verification, parental consent, and parental surveillance law (which we are also part of the fight against!) ruled last month that we had not met the threshold for a temporary injunction preventing the state from enforcing the law while the court case proceeds.

The Tennesee law is less onerous than the Mississippi law and the fines for violating it are slightly less ruinous (slightly), but it's still a risk to us. While the fight goes on, we've decided to prevent any new account signups from anyone under 18 in Tennessee to protect ourselves against risk. We do not need to block access from the whole state: this only applies to new account creation.

Because we don't do any geolocation on our users and our network provider's geolocation services only apply to blocking access to the site entirely, the way we're implementing this is a new mandatory question on the account creation form asking if you live in Tennessee. If you do, you'll be unable to register an account if you're under 18, not just the under 13 restriction mandated by COPPA. Like the restrictions on the state of Mississippi, we absolutely hate having to do this, we're sorry, and we hope we'll be able to undo it as soon as possible.

Finally, I'd like to thank every one of you who's commented with a message of support for this fight or who's bought paid time to help keep us running. The fact we're entirely user-supported and you all genuinely understand why this fight is so important for everyone is a huge part of why we can continue to do this work. I've also sent a lot of your comments to the lawyers who are fighting the actual battles in court, and they find your wholehearted support just as encouraging and motivating as I do. Thank you all once again for being the best users any social media site could ever hope for. You make me proud and even more determined to yell at state attorneys general on your behalf.

Murderbot

Aug. 31st, 2025 12:02 pm
schneefink: River walking among trees, from "Safe" (Default)
[personal profile] schneefink
I'm a big fan of the Murderbot books, so I was looking forward to the show, especially after I started hearing that it was good. The plan was to watch it all at once with L, since season one isn't very long. It took a while to find the time, but it became more urgent when I had a meeting scheduled with a client who I talked about the books with last year and who'd asked me how I liked the series on our first phone call this year ^^
L and I started watching together, but L didn't like it very much so I watched the second half on my own. And after watching the show I reread all of the books, and then I read a lot of fic.

I enjoyed it! I didn't like the very first scene because that wasn't how I'd imagined it somehow (in hindsight, not sure why I had such an immediate averse reaction to that scene in particular); but that somehow helped me immediately separate show-verse from book-verse and then I could accept all the other changes more easily (well. most of them) and overall I had a good time.
I'm very glad I waited to watch until the first season was done, considering how short the episodes were, with very effective cliffhangers too.

TV show spoilers )

I really enjoyed rereading the books afterwards, too. Spoilers up to System Collapse )

The same client - my client, and that word sounds different even in that approximate context now ^^ - recommended I read Project Hail Mary next so that is next on the list - after a bunch more MB fic, most likely, because I'm enjoying those a lot.
musesfool: Olivia Dunham, PI (there are blondes and blondes)
[personal profile] musesfool
All day on Wednesday, I thought it was Thursday, and all day yesterday, I thought it was today. But it was not! So I do have some Wednesday books posting to do, now on Friday!

What I've just finished
The Oleander Sword and The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri, the second and third books in her Burning Kingdoms trilogy. Overall, I thought these two were much more engaging than the first book, and I wanted to know what happened next, but I wasn't blown away by them like I was by her Books of Ambha duology (which I highly recommend!).

Also I've read both Into the Riverlands and Mammoths at the Gate by Nghi Vo. I enjoy these novellas quite a bit and these two were wonderful. I especially liked the martial arts references in Riverlands and how Mammoths was about grief and stories, two of my favorite topics to read about!

What I'm reading now
The Brides of High Hill, the next Singing Hills Cycle novella by Nghi Vo. I've just started it but I'm enjoying it so far.

What I'm reading next
I am just happy to be reading at all so I cannot say! I thought the next Craft Wars book was out in September, but it looks like it's not until the end of October, so I guess we'll see!

Speaking of books, though, last night I watched the Netflix adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club and I enjoyed it - the casting is A++ for the most part (Helen Mirren is perfect as Elizabeth and Ben Kingsley is great as Ibrahim. And Pierce Brosnan remains ridiculously handsome.) - and I think 95% of the streamlining they did was fine, because there were a few two many twists and turns in the book, but spoiler for both book and movie ) I haven't read any of the other books in the series, though I'm sure I will eventually, but I hope it does well enough that they can make a few more movies with this set of actors.

Now I have to go take my strawberry summer cake out of the oven. I was invited to a cookout tomorrow at my sister's at the last moment, so I have to have a cake to bring!

*

(no subject)

Aug. 29th, 2025 07:41 pm
angrboda: Viking style dragon head finial against a blue sky (Default)
[personal profile] angrboda
Husband made fried halloumi with mashed potatoes, French beans and parsley sauce.

I am. So full.

… so I’m playing Dark Souls

Aug. 29th, 2025 05:53 pm
rydra_wong: Lee Miller photo showing two women wearing metal fire masks in England during WWII. (Default)
[personal profile] rydra_wong
That is a thing that is happening.

My standard joke here is that any game involving reflexes and coordination is going to be an excruciating experience of innumerable repeated failures for me, so I might as well play one where that's the point. This is only partly a joke.

Necessary context for anyone who has not met me IRL: I am dyspraxic as fuck. I was in my late twenties at least, possibly thirties, before I could catch an object being gently thrown to me across a short distance. My coordination, reflexes and ability to react to multiple inputs in real-time are so bad that I can't drive (or cycle on the road) because it would be OBVIOUSLY WILDLY DANGEROUS for me to even try (people would die). I have to buy special shatterproof crockery because otherwise my plate turnover is so high.

It was only with climbing that I learned that I can actually acquire motor skills, some of them, slowly, if I have unlimited time to practice them on my own terms.

Further necessary context: I'd been looking wistfully at the Soulsbornes for ages -- having seen videos such as Jonny Sims's Bloodborne streams -- as something that I'd probably love if I only had any coordination or ability at all to cope with having to react to multiple rapid inputs in real-time.

One of my climber friends has argued that Soulslike games are basically the same as working on a hard boulder project: you fail and fail and fail and fail and that's the process, each time you try to learn a bit more or try something new, and gradually you make progress, and eventually, hopefully, you don't fail.

And that's a process that I fucking love, and that works very well for my brain. Perverse stubbornness is my jam.

But when I look at something like Bloodborne -- the combat exchange is over before I can even track who's where and what's happened.

So I was thinking grumpily/wistfully and in secret about how what I really wanted was not an "easy mode," but a Soulsborne game that I could adjust the speed on (maybe set it all to 20-30% slower!), just so I could get my foot in the door, just so I could begin to maybe try.

And I watched more videos of other games, and somewhere along the way I watched people figuring out and/or being coached on how to get through the fight with the Asylum Demon at the end of the tutorial* in Dark Souls 1.

(I also read that Dark Souls 1 has the slowest and, in some people's eyes, "clunkiest" combat of the Souls games — not necessarily the easiest, but more tactical, less fast-twitch.)

And I thought, "... huh, I wonder, if I really worked at it, maybe I could beat the Asylum Demon? That would be kind of cool."

To be clear: I bought the game with the goal of seeing if I could beat the tutorial.

Cut for length )

Circle Updates

Aug. 27th, 2025 05:56 pm
havocthecat: sunflowers and dreamwidth (random dreamwidth)
[personal profile] havocthecat
Just evening up a bit of subscription/access issues. Drop a (screened) comment if I removed you by accident.
musesfool: principal ava coleman, abbott elementary, with a skeptical look (no seriously)
[personal profile] musesfool
So here's a question for you, especially if you do office-type work: when did people start sending pictures of things instead of actual documents in a work-related setting? And WHY???

I have had this happen repeatedly recently, and then instead of just going on with my work easily, I have to email back and ask for a version in a program that I can edit. (If I don't need to edit, I will sometimes just print it as a PDF so I can attach and send it to people, but that is still an extra step I have to take because someone else couldn't put their work in a work-appropriate format.)

Personally, I get not wanting to share a linked document - I do it but I kind of hate other people in my documents because of version control issues (...or maybe just control issues? 😬😬😬) - but anything is better than a useless JPEG pasted into the body of an email when what I ASKED FOR was a list of attendees for a meeting I may need to sort, or a purchase requisition that I will need to update.

As a related item, stop with the QR codes! Our HR department sends emails about training opportunities or other events and is like, "Use the QR code to register!" Like, how about no? And certainly not when it's an event to which we are inviting board members, some of whom are LITERALLY in their 90s and not tech-savvy. What is wrong with a nice LINK to a FORM on a regular WEBBED SITE?

I guess I am feeling very Abe Simpson yells at clouds today, but come on. These are not things that make work easier! (Well, maybe it's easier for the people who do this, but then they have to deal with my annoying follow up emails, so is it really easier for them???)

In other news, my younger nephew got a promotion that required him to move to California in a hurry, so he flew out last night. I will miss him! Who will I call now when I need a tall person to do things in my apartment??? (Just kidding! It's a great opportunity for him, and he is some kind of regional manager now with a region that includes Hawaii, so my sister and I are already like, "let us plan a trip to visit him IN HAWAII!" [note: I will likely never be able to afford a trip to Hawaii, but a girl can dream.])

*

(no subject)

Aug. 27th, 2025 11:31 am
angrboda: Viking style dragon head finial against a blue sky (Default)
[personal profile] angrboda
I. Pictures from my summer holiday have been posting every other day over on my pillowfort. I wanted to have them post between 11 and 12 midday. This is not what has happened. I don't know why Americans can't just use a sensible way to read a clock. Oh well, it's not a disaster. I have enough posts scheduled that the last one will be in end September. Husband also gave me some photos that he took and I'll put up some of those as well.

II. Luna's appetite is yo-yoing a bit. After we came back from our holiday it started getting difficult, and then the other day she had another little hairball, and now she's eating well again. I really think the issue is hairball related rather than kidney issues, but we'll see. She's got a vet visit scheduled soon to have her teeth checked and the vet wanted to try and get a blood sample for her kidney values at the same time. It's easier for everybody, especially the elderly cat, if we can do both these two things at the same time without having to knock her out.

III. Still very motivated about the new bed project in the garden, but Husband says wait until later in the year for a higher chance of success and also because he says after we've had some proper rainy days, it'll also be easier to dig it up. So I'm trying to keep up steam here until I can order the plants and start digging a big hole! I kind of want to order them now just because I'm excited, but since I can't plant them anyway that would stupid. Plant nursery people can look after the same pots way better than I can in the meantime.

IV. Summer holiday has come to an end. Back to work kicking and screaming as per usual. Well, actually, I have seriously tried really hard not to complain too much about it this year, but some grump slipped out Sunday evening and Husband laughed at me.

V. Holly is having a nap on my lap at the moment and she's dreaming something. It's immensely cute, but the twitching tickles madly.

VI. Sunday also marked the return to watching opera from the Met in our little cinema. This one was The Barber of Seville which was very good and funny. I've been listening to bits of it again since. There are a couple of titles in the program for the next season that we would like to see, but some of them unfortunately won't be possible. These are only shown one time, so it's not like you get a choice. Rigoletto coincides with a family event, and Tristan and Isolde is shown on a Friday because it's so super long (5 hours!) AND we already have tickets for the music house that same evening. Neither of us are really up for that kind of marathon! The Met does have it's own streaming service with over 800 titles on it and it's not even very expensive, so we've been considering trying that out.
Page generated Sep. 9th, 2025 08:49 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios